Vote Result

Yea Votes

Nay Votes

Vote to pass a bill that authorizes and extends $70 billion in tax credits and cuts.

Highlights:

Appropriates $47.27 billion to the military including $25.41 billion for procurement and $16.9 billion for operation and maintenance of the Army.

Appropriates $21.9 billion to veterans' healthcare and disability compensation and hospital infrastructure for veterans in 2006 though 2010, including $14 billion for disability compensation and $6.9 billion for medical services.

Extends small businesses' ability to expense more business assets from 2008 through 2010 (Sec. 101).

Provides tax credits of up to $2,000 for qualified individuals who invest in Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) from 2006 through 2009 (Sec. 102).

Provides a higher education tax deduction that may equal up to the amount of "the qualified tuition and related expenses" from 2005 through 2009 (Sec. 103).

Provides for the deduction of state and local general sales taxes instead of state income taxes from 2006 through 2008 (Sec. 105).

Exempts those filing a joint return on $62,550 or less and those filing a single return on $42,500 or less from the alternative minimum tax (Sec. 106).

Provides a tax credit for increasing research activities from 2005 through 2007 (Sec. 108).

Repeals the welfare-to-work credit and places it in a modified work opportunity tax credit that increases the credit for employment of "long term family assistance recipients" through 2007 (Sec. 109).

Creates a tax credit for mine rescue team training and allows 50 percent of the cost of mine safety equipment to be expensed for three years (Secs. 313-314).

Changes the tax on oil companies that produce 500,000 barrels per year so that if the value of the oil increases beyond what the oil company paid for it, then the oil companies' taxable gross income will be increase by the amount of the discrepancy (Sec. 461).

Note:

NOTE: THIS IS A SUBSTITUTE BILL, MEANING THE LANGUAGE OF THE ORIGINAL BILL HAS BEEN REPLACED. THE DEGREE TO WHICH THE SUBSTITUTE BILL TEXT DIFFERS FROM THE PREVIOUS VERSION OF THE TEXT CAN VARY GREATLY.

Legislation -
Bill Passed
(House)
(234-197) -
Dec. 8, 2005(Key vote)

Title: Tax Relief Extension Reconciliation Act of 2005

Vote Result

Yea Votes

Nay Votes

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that reduces federal spending by $56.1 billion over five years by decreasing the amount of funds spent on Medicaid, Medicare, agriculture, employee pensions, conservation, student loans, and other projects and retains a reduced tax rate on capital gains and dividends.

Highlights:

All tax provisions in highlights are extended by a period of one year, except where noted otherwise.

Continues to allow taxpayers to claim personal tax credits for disabled or dependent care, the HOPE college expenses, certain home mortgages and Life Learning Credits against the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) in order to decrease the number of people that will be required to pay the AMT (Sec. 101).

Lengthens wage tax credit for employment on Indian reservations continues to allow businesses that are located on reservations accelerated depreciation rates on their investments (Sec. 102).

Extends the opportunity tax credit as well as the credit for individuals who have been receiving public assistance for an extended period of time (welfare-to-work credit) (Sec. 103).

Increases the age limit for eligibility for food stamp recipients from 25 to 35 years (Sec. 103).

Extends the availability of the Archer Medical Savings Account Program (MSA) (Sec. 106).

Retains tax incentives for investment in the District of Columbia (Sec. 110).

Increases the expensing limits on investments of depreciable assets for small businesses through 2010 (Sec. 205).

Repeals the requirement that a veteran must have served before 1977, in order to receive the benefits of qualified veterans' mortgage bond programs and imposes specific dollar limitations on some states (Sec. 303).

Allows an election to treat an artist's musical sales as capital gains "certain self-created musical works" when these works are sold by the artist (Sec. 304).

Amends charges collected by ton on vessels entering the US by reducing the weight threshold from 10,000 pounds to 6,000 pounds (Sec. 305).